Hird wants fixture shakeup to stop AFL from being ‘left behind’

With the announcement of Tasmania becoming the 19th team in the AFL, the competition is set for a radical overhaul of its fixture in 2028, with the proposals dividing opinions.

Speaking on Nine’s Footy Classified on Tuesday night, the panel broke down the four major fixture models floated during an AFL executive meeting and spoke about panellist Eddie McGuire’s proposed idea.

In 2025, McGuire floated the ‘exotic’ shakeup. He revealed that he discussed the fixture suggestion with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, urging him to bring it to the table.

McGuire’s proposal was to have 20 games in the season, with each team playing each other once, with the inclusion of Gather Round. Then, it would break the ladder up into four groups for the top 16.

Each team would play every team in their group of four once to determine the top 10 and the bottom three teams, who do not qualify for the group stage, would play each other for draft picks.

James Hird argued that the league has now outgrown its traditional roots and needs to evolve to survive against rival sporting codes in Australia.

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“I think the draw does need to change. I think people who say, ‘Why can’t we just keep it the same?’ We’re not a 12-team competition based in Victoria anymore,” said Hird.

“We’re an 18-team competition, we’re going to 19 teams. We need more TV dollars. We’re competing against entertainment, we’re competing against rugby league, competing against all sorts of sports.

“If we don’t change, I think we will get left behind. I think there needs to...be more games of consequence. The season needs to go on longer for more teams, but we need to keep the fairness and integrity of the competition there, and I think a change needs to happen relatively soon.”

While players have reportedly written off some of the more extreme proposals, including the idea of a mid-season tournament that would require a three-week break, there is growing support for a model that introduces late-season competition.

Speaking on Footy Classified, Isaac Smith argued the third option would allow for more overhaul and “games of consequence” late in the year, eliminating the late-season boredom for teams outside the finals race.

“What you said on games of consequence. And for too long, for a good decade now, you get to about round 16...this time of year, and the games just start to peter out a little bit,” said Smith.

According to McGuire, the new structure directly solves the issues that plagues the final weeks of the current regular season.

Under the proposed model, the bottom three teams would be segregated, which would stop heavyweights from boosting their percentage against bottom-tier sides.

“What we don’t want to have is situations that have happened in recent years,” McGuire explained.

“Where one of the teams that’s completely cooked plays a team, gets beaten by 120 points, and the percentage makes the difference between finishing fifth and fourth.”